Chapter 96 [Travel to Lianzhou]
As time went by, the situation in Beijing gradually stabilized.
In order to supply medicinal materials to the pharmacies in Beijing, Jiang Lili would ship large quantities of them to every warehouse she was exiled to, so the supply was very stable.
The drug dealers who had originally thought of monopolizing the market panicked when they saw that the pharmacies suddenly had resources and no longer lacked medicine.
Many people in this drug dealers association follow Lang Daowen, the left court judge of the Imperial Medical Bureau. They do whatever Lang says, and it has always been profitable in the past. Unexpectedly, they suffered a big setback this time.
These drug dealers who were driving up drug prices came to Lang Daowen, making him extremely anxious. He could only comfort them: "There will always be a shortage of drugs. Don't panic if you wait and see."
As a result, the seriously ill patients in Beijing were almost cured, and patients with mild symptoms also received medicine one after another, and the complaints of the people gradually subsided.
The Beijing team also opened a porridge relief point in the name of the family. Jiang Lili and Xiaopang purchased and shipped the food from Modern and distributed it to Hou Xiaoxiao's Beijing team.
A bracelet from a prominent family in Beijing would be worth a few thousand yuan in modern times, which could be exchanged for at least half a ton of rice, enough to feed two thousand people.
The reputation and influence of the students in the Beijing team are growing day by day, and other families are envious and crying.
Some people speculated that the Hou family was becoming less and less respected as the General of the Cavalry, so this time they wanted to make their presence felt in front of His Majesty, while Grand Tutor Xue was paving the way for his son Xue Wei to enter the officialdom.
But no matter what, they all guessed that the Hou and Xue families must have spent a lot of money, but in fact the Beijing team only suffered some minor injuries to their wallets.
The efforts made by Dr. Qi, Princess Jin, Princess Ying, and the Grand Tutor and his son in fighting the epidemic during this period were witnessed by the people of the capital. The 447th Beijing Epidemic Fighting Team became famous and its reputation spread among the people.
None of the problems Lang Daowen raised, such as the shortage of medicinal materials, rising drug prices, and public pressure, could stump Qi Yun.
Lang Daowen and the other imperial physicians were both frustrated and puzzled: "This is really strange. How come there are so many medicinal herbs all of a sudden?"
Doctor Jiang, with Concubine Rou as his backer, knew more information: "Those drug dealers willing to release the medicine are not our people, and we don't know the strength of their inventory. Moreover, it is said that the Taifu family has transferred the inventory of medicinal materials from the mansions of relatives they can contact."
Doctor Jiang sighed. They were no match for the old-fashioned Grand Tutor. "The Grand Tutor has invested heavily in paving the way for his son Xue Wei in the officialdom."
Lang Daowen slammed the table in anger: "The son of the Grand Tutor, who ranked last in the provincial examination, how could he possibly be qualified for the palace examination?
"Isn't he just good at writing lyrical poems? Seeing how serious he is, how could he possibly pass the palace examination?"
"It doesn't matter what the Taifu is like. What's important is..."
Doctor Luo shook his head. "Now the drug dealers in the Drug Dealers Association don't want to do business with us anymore. They even hold a grudge against us and want us to compensate them for their losses."
His face was solemn. "I heard that the Emperor has instructed Prince Jin to wait until this epidemic is over and then thoroughly investigate the price gouging and monopoly of medicinal materials. Now every drug dealer is in danger."
Lang Daowen's heart trembled, and he looked at Doctor Jiang: "The Prime Minister and Concubine Rou will protect us, right?"
"Empress Roufei's baby needs your care."
Doctor Jiang looked very sad. "Alas, now that Concubine Rou has asked me to check her pulse to help her with the pregnancy, I am terrified."
Concubine Rou also knew about Doctor Jiang's plan. Her father was the current Left Prime Minister Zhuo Siying, who was second only to the Prime Minister.
The reason why this group of imperial doctors dared to join forces with drug dealers to do this was of course because they had the golden support of the Left Prime Minister.
Many of the pharmacies that monopolized medicinal materials and raised drug prices this time belong to the prime minister. If the pharmacies no longer need their medicinal materials, the prime minister will suffer a huge loss this time.
Moreover, Concubine Rou wanted to frame Concubine Ying with a crime of "extravagance and wastefulness in times of national crisis". She gave Concubine Ying a lot of luxury items for food, clothing and daily necessities, and asked her spies to use Concubine Ying every day, and spread the news of Concubine Ying's extravagance everywhere in the palace.
What she was waiting for was the emptied treasury. She would unite with other palaces to morally blackmail Xin Yingshu, forcing her to donate all the things she had collected. Then, she would make some arrangements and use the raised funds to buy medicinal materials for their Zhuo family pharmacy.
As it turned out, Doctor Qi had the support of the Grand Tutor and Prince Jin, and he solved all the problems directly, leaving Concubine Rou and Prime Minister Zhuo with no place to perform.
Doctor Jiang's face was extremely grim: "We have messed up, I don't know if the Prime Minister will protect us..."
Lang Daowen exhaled a heavy breath. He was afraid that his position as the chief judge of the Imperial Hospital was about to be lost. His face was gloomy. "But one thing is certain, Qi Yun has now offended Prime Minister Zhuo. His future will not be easy."
*
Today, Jiang Lili was in a very good mood. Firstly, the epidemic in Beijing was under control and her friends were promoted and got salary increases. Secondly, after more than a month's journey, they finally arrived in Lianzhou.
The exile team will arrive at the Lixian Post Station under Lianzhou before sunset and settle down, waiting for the government to arrange a ship to escort the exiles to Haizhou.
The Lianzhou area has a well-developed water system and is mostly plains. It is not as mountainous as the northern part of Lingnan when they first arrived. The population is much more dense than in the north, and it is also the most prosperous place in Lingnan.
In the carriage, Jiang Lili was carrying a basket of exquisite cosmetics and skin care products in her backpack. She didn't need them during her exile, but these exquisite little gadgets had helped her best friend Hou Xiaoxiao a lot these days.
“Ding ding ding.”
Hou Xiaoxiao sent a message to Jiang Lili: [Lili, I'm back at the palace now. Has the goods I requested arrived?]
Jiang Lili: [It’s here, I’ll send it to you now!]
Jiang Lili gave the counted cosmetics and skincare products to Hou Xiaoxiao in a red envelope.
After Hou Xiaoxiao got these things, she asked the maid beside her to call the thirty-two sisters to a meeting.
These days, if there are patients in Beijing with mild symptoms, or those who have not been infected with the epidemic but want to grab or stock up on medicine, Hou Xiaoxiao will directly serve them with a poisonous package.
The specialties she brought back from Miaojiang were so scary just to look at, that the patients were so frightened that they waited obediently.
In an environment like an epidemic, it is easy for the strong to bully the weak, but Hou Xiaoxiao did not tolerate it and continued to promote her reputation as the "evil girl of the capital."
In this way, she won the hearts of most honest and peaceful people, and her name as "evil woman" gradually changed to "chivalrous woman".
What’s even more terrifying is that this princess is particularly idle. Isn’t it said that she has thirty-two concubines to deal with in the mansion?
What about the thirty-two concubines? Their fighting ability is not good enough!
Little did they know that all 32 concubines were willing to "work" for Hou Xiaoxiao.
The princess is now richer than the prince, and the rewards she gives them are all rouge and powder that can't be bought on the market, as well as magical facial masks...
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